Mark
by Evelyn627
Summary: [Complete] At the age of six, Sakura met Gaara while accompanying her dad on a mission. Gaara 'marked' her as his. Six years have passed since they last saw each other and they meet up again, just in time for the Chunin Exams.
1. Chapter 1

I'm revising and reposting this fanfic. I deleted the original, so if you still want updates, please add this to your Alert list. Thx, Evelyn

**Summary**: Sakura met Gaara when she was six while with her dad on a mission. Gaara 'marked' her as his. Six year have passed since they last saw each other and they meet up again, just in time for the Chunin Exams.

**Chapter 1**

"Daddy!" a pink-haired child called.

A man with matching green eyes and brown hair turned towards his daughter as she ran up to him. He saw tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, and sighed, knowing that she had once again been teased about her forehead.

He lifted her up when she reached him, hugging her small body close to his. He honestly didn't have time to comfort her. He had just been assigned a mission to Suna, but her mother was also on a mission, so the duty ended up falling to him.

"Daddy, where are you going?" Sakura asked when she noticed his ninja attire.

The brown-haired man smiled at his daughter, "I have a mission to Suna."

Sakura frowned. "I don't want you to go Daddy! I don't wanna be alone!" she said, her voice rising with each word.

Mr. Haruno smiled. "How about I take you with me." he said, slightly frustrated.

Sakura's face lit up. "OK!" she yelled.

"I'll have to ask Hokage-sama though," he said seriously, tapping her nose.

Sakura giggled.

"Ask me what?" the Hokage said kindly.

Mr. Haruno looked up at the old man. "Hokage-sama, may I take my daughter with me on my mission? My wife is on her own mission and I am not sure how long it will be until she returns."

The Third smiled down at Sakura, who in turn smiled up at him. "You can take her. Yashamaru can watch her. He watches over the Kazekage's youngest child, Gaara."

Mr. Haruno nodded. "Thank you Hokage-sama. Come on Sakura, we need to get you packed."

"But Daddy!" Sakura protested, "I don't have any clothes to wear in the desert!"

Mr. Haruno smiled, "Okay, we'll get you clothes there, but remember it's a three day journey."

Sakura's mouth formed and 'O' shape. She understood.

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Sakura woke up. She remembered a forest then a desert, then nothing. She must have fallen asleep during the journey.

"Daddy!" she called, wondering where her father was.

She frowned when no one answered. "Daddy!" she called again.

The door opened, but her Daddy didn't come through, instead was a man with blonde hair. "Hello Sakura-san. I'm Yashamaru. I'm going to be taking care of you while you dad is on his mission."

Sakura nodded and looked around, realizing that she was in a unfamiliar place. There was a bed (which she was in) a closet, a door (which she assumed lead to the bathroom) and a nightstand to the right of the bed.

She got out of bed and looked towards Yashamaru. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

Sakura nodded. Yashamaru motioned for her to follow him as he left. She walked out the door a few moments later.

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Sakura was walking to a park with Temari, one of the Kazekages children. Yashamaru had asked her to watch the pink haired girl and Temari agreed.

She chuckled when she saw Sakura looking around, her emerald eyes wide as she took everything in.

When they got to the park Sakura saw several kids playing, but one was alone in the sandbox. He had red hair and pale green eyes. The other kids were avoiding him, or glaring at him.

The boy looked sad, so Sakura went over to talk to him.

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Temari looked over at Sakura and saw that she was heading over to Gaara. She didn't do anything, because she was sure that the girl wouldn't appreciate it if she stopped her from talking with him.

Temari sighed and hopped that Gaara didn't lose control.

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Gaara sat in the sandbox, alone. He felt the stares of the other children and the adults. Tears came to his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

He looked up and saw his sister, Temari, walking towards the playground with a girl his age. She had pink hair and emerald green eyes. She looked around, but her eyes rested on him.

Temari had wandered away to talk to her friends.

Sakura walked towards Gaara, who thought she was going to hurt him. Temari saw her walking towards him, but didn't do anything though she had a look of concern on her face.

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Sakura reached the sandbox. The redhead looked scared. Sakura tilted her head to the side. "Why are you scared? I'm not going to hurt you." she said.

Gaara looked at her. "Y-your not?" he asked.

Sakura shook her head and smiled. "Nope! My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm staying with Yashamaru while my dad is doing his mission. Kazekage-sama told Temari to watch me. Temari-san said that I would meet her brothers: Kankuro and Gaara. Are you Gaara?" she asked him.

Gaara nodded. "Nice to meet you Gaara-kun!" she said rather loudly.

Kids on the playground turned to look at them. One of the older ones walked over to them and said to Sakura. "You shouldn't be near him. He's a monster, a demon!" the boy said.

Gaara looked down, now the girl wouldn't play with him.

Sakura glared at the boy. "Demon? Monster? He looks like a 6-year-old boy with red hair and pale green eyes. He's looks sad and hurt. Not like a demon."

The boy looked surprised at this, but didn't give up. He leaned close to Sakura and said, "He has the Shukaku sealed in him, the one-tailed raccoon, a demon! That makes him a demon too!"

Sakura frowned.

Tears sprung to Gaara's eyes. He looked at Sakura. She wouldn't play with him now that she knew.

Sakura smiled and punched the boy in the stomach. He doubled over gasping for breath. "W-what w-w-was that f-f-f-for?" he stuttered.

"Gaara isn't a monster. He's the prison of one. Shukaku is the prisoner. Gaara is a hero for keeping a demon inside him. He's protecting the village by doing so. If Gaara-kun was a demon then there wouldn't be a Sand village. You should be nicer to Gaara-kun!" Sakura said, yelling the last part.

Everyone looked at her. Temari smiled when the girl stood up for her brother.

"Stupid girl..." people were muttering."She's going to die."; "the monster is going to kill her."

The boy that had been talking to her shook his head and walked away still clutching his stomach.

Sakura smiled at Gaara and sat next to him. "Can I play with you?" She asked.

Gaara's eyes lit up. He smiled and nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Temari grinned, watching her youngest brother play with the pink haired girl. Sakura already had her respect for defending the young, red-haired jinjuriken, which wasn't easy to gain. Even her own friends didn't have her respect.

Speaking of which, Temari glared at her friends. They had been glaring at the two six-year-olds all day and saying that Gaara was going to kill Sakura in her sleep.

A smile came to Temari's face and she grabbed a camera from one of the boys and snapped pictures of the two kids.

She grinned at them, "I'll give this back later. Bye."

The boy whose camera she took glared and the others said half-hearted goodbyes.

Never said they were _good_ friends.

* * *

Gaara and Sakura played with each other until the sun went down. They ignored the other children and their parents and, in turn, were mostly ignored except for the occasional glare or whisper from the parents.

When the sun was close to setting, Temari came up and told them it was time to go home.

The two kids groaned, but none-the-less, followed the older girl back to the house.

"Sakura," Temari smiled. "Did you have fun?"

Sakura grinned up at her, "Yup! Gaara and I had lots of fun! He's my first friend," she said sadly.

"Really?" Temari and Gaara asked at the same time. It came as a shock to the siblings because of how nice and protective she was. Why wouldn't anyone want to be her friend?

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, everyone in Konoha teases me because of my forehead."

"There's nothing wrong with her forehead. They just tease her about it because she's smarter then they are," a man said, walking up to them.

Sakura smiled and ran to him, "Daddy!"

Temari and Gaara smiled up at him.

"Did you have fun?" Mr. Haruno asked.

Sakura nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! I made a friend! Gaara!" Sakura yelled pointing at the red head.

Mr. Haruno smiled. "That's nice. My mission should only take a few more days, and then we have to go home."

Sakura frowned. "OK, daddy." she said sadly.

"You can visit Gaara and Gaara can visit you. The Kazekage does come to Konoha every so often."

Sakura and Gaara smiled.

"YAY!" they screamed together.

* * *

Mr. Haruno watched as the three kids walked away. The Kazekage and many other ninja had warned him about the red-head.

They didn't say _why _he should keep his daughter away from the "little monster," only that he would regret it when she turned up dead.

His green eyes narrowed. Gaara seemed like a little boy, not a monster, not a demon, just a misunderstood, six-year-old boy.

He shook his head and put his fears to rest. If something happened he was sure that Sakura would tell him.

* * *

Gaara stood on the roof; he couldn't sleep, as always.

He looked up at the full moon, his bloodlust was peaked at this time, but surprisingly, Sakura, the pink-haired girl he had met earlier that day, had kept it down.

He smiled, thinking of her pretty, emerald eyes that shined every time she smiled or laughed. She had eyes that looked at him softly, instead of hatefully.

Gaara turned quickly, feeling a presence behind him. There was another assassin hired by his father. No surprise there.

The masked ninja attacked, and Gaara's sand sprouted and attacked him, pushing him away and at the same time wounding him.

The mask was torn off and Gaara gasped when he saw who it was.

Yashamaru.

"W-why?" he whispered, kneeling down.

"It was an order," Yashamaru coughed.

"You were forced to?" Gaara asked hopefully.

"No, I had a choice. I could refuse," Yashamaru answered truthfully. "You killed my sister, I hate you. You're a demon."

Yashamaru opened his shirt, showing exploding notes attached to his chest.

"Die Gaara, please," Yashamaru said.

There was an explosion and a flash of light. When it cleared, you saw a dome falling away. Inside was a crying six-year-old.

Gaara screamed and sand came up to his forehead. The sand cleared after a few moments and you could clearly see the kanji for love imprinted on his forehead.

His eyes darkened. He wouldn't let anyone else betray him like this, no one.

* * *

Sakura lay in her bed, the same bed that she had woken up in earlier that day, but she wasn't sleeping. She couldn't, something was wrong and she knew it.

Sand began to wrap around her, it trapped her against the bed so she couldn't move.

The doorknob turned and so did her head. Her frightened green eyes looked at Gaara.

His eyes were dark. _Was this what was wrong? _She wondered.

He quietly walked over to her and straddled her waist. She wasn't getting away.

"Gaara-kun?" she whispered.

Gaara didn't say anything. He put his small hand on her forehead and sand gathered under it and began digging into her skin.

Sakura started to scream.

Gaara's hand came up to cover her mouth. "I won't let you betray me. You won't betray me like Yashamaru. You'll love only me. You'll fight only for me."

Sakura nodded, not really understanding it, but wanting desperately to follow his orders. She didn't want to lose her first and only friend. Not even if he was hurting her.

She screamed into Gaara's hand as another wave of pain hit her. Why did it still hurt? What was he doing?

Green met green.

_Mine._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sakura looked at Gaara, his eyes were cold, dead. She shivered in fear.

Then, warm liquid traveled down her face, originating from her forehead. Her eyes widened as she recognized the scent of blood, _her_ blood. Her frightened green eyes filled with tears as she looked up at Gaara.

Gaara removed his hand and inspected the mark he had placed upon her. It was identical to his.

"You'll always be mine now," he whispered, lapping up the blood that had come from the tattoo.

"Yours…" Sakura whispered. "Always yours."

Gaara smirked as he watched green eyes close and his pink haired friend fall asleep.

Gaara mixed Shukaku's chakra in with the mark he was placing on his friend. It would help influence her to love him, but it would only enhance feelings that were already there.

Mother had told him that, she had assured him of that.

"You'll always be mine now," he whispered, leaning down to lick blood off the tattoo.

"Yours," she whispered.

Gaara smirked.

"Always yours."

Three days later, Gaara and Temari stood at the gate with Sakura and her father.

Sakura's head had been wrapped up with bandaged, courtesy of Temari who was too scared of her younger brother to tell anyone anything, and she had told her father that she had tripped and hit her head, but that she was okay.

Sakura hugged both of her new friends tightly. Temari hugged back just as tightly.

"Bye-bye Temari-san," Sakura said tearfully.

"Good-bye Sakura-chan," Temari replied.

Sakura turned towards the red-haired jinjuriken next and threw her arms around him.

"Bye-bye Gaara-kun," she said, tears falling out of her eyes. Despite what he had done to her, she couldn't find it in her to hate him, if anything, she liked him more.

"Don't forget me," she whispered. "I'm yours, remember." She gave him an envelope and went back to join her father.

Mr. Haruno smiled at the two children. "Thank you for watching my daughter Temari-san, Gaara-san." He hesitated. "I'm sorry about Yashamaru."

Gaara nodded, and looked to the ground, not wanting to think about the man who betrayed him.

"It was no problem Haruno-sama!" Temari grinned.

Mr. Haruno smiled and picked up Sakura.

"Ready to go Sakura?" he asked.

Sakura shook her head.

"You'll see each other again," Mr. Haruno grinned.

Sakura sighed. "Bye-bye," she said once more before her father started running.

Gaara and Temari watched until they were out of sight before Temari turned towards her younger brother.

"Like Haruno-sama said, you'll see her again Gaara," Temari assured.

Gaara looked up at her. "I know," he said.

Temari shook her head and walked off. She would never understand boys.

When his sister was gone Gaara looked at the envelope. He smiled and opened it.

There was a picture of Sakura and him at the park, the day they had met each other. Scowling, Gaara realized that Temari had taken the picture without him knowing.

He unfolded the note and read it.

_Dear Gaara-kun,_

_Did you like the picture? Temari-nee-chan took it the day we met each other! Did you realize it? I didn't. She gave me two copies last night so I have one, and you have one! Isn't that great?_

_I'm gonna miss you while I'm in Konoha. I'm joining our ninja academy so I can grow strong so I can fight for you and so you will be proud of me. _

_Please don't forget me. I won't forget you. And write too, okay? Oh! And come when if your dad comes to Konoha, kay? Please? I'll write too, even if you don't write back. _

_Remember, I'm yours and only yours, so don't let anyone hurt me or take me away… well, except my daddy and mommy!_

_Love,_

_Haruno Sakura_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Chunnin Exams**

(Time Skip: 6 years later)

Six years had passed since Sakura had first traveled to Suna with her father and met Gaara. She had grown a lot in that time, growing stronger and smarter so she would fit with Gaara better. The mark on her forehead had been proudly shown since Gaara had given it to her, and only Naruto knew the true story behind it. When her father and mother had seen it, they had freaked out, and her mother had started crying over her baby. Sakura had lied and said it looked cool, so she had done it herself, never really telling _how _she had done it.

Where most of her female classmates had gone after Uchiha Sasuke, she hadn't, choosing to talk to the Hyuuga heiress who only had eyes for the blonde haired, blue eyed knucklehead in their class, Uzumaki Naruto.

She and Naruto had also formed a bond when he protected her against a group of bullies and patched her up afterwards. They had become as close as siblings and she had worked to get Hinata and Naruto together, even though they both seemed too embarrassed and shy to make any moves.

It had been chance that she, Naruto, and regrettably, Uchiha Sasuke, had been put on the same team under the 'guidance' of the most lazy jounin in Konoha, Hatake Kakashi. At least, that's what Sakura liked to tell herself. Even if she and Naruto got along, there were times when the blonde got on her nerves, especially when he was fighting with Sasuke.

Hatake Kakashi went to turn in Team 7's mission report, leaving the three ninja alone at 'their' bridge talking about what they wanted to do. It was quickly decided, however, when Naruto's eight-year-old friends appeared: Konoharmaru, Udon, and Moegi.

"What do you guys want this time?" Naruto groaned, thinking of all the other times that they had appeared when they were bored or they needed 'help' with something.

"You promised that you would play Ninja with us!" Konoharmaru yelled pointing a finger at his rival and 'boss'.

"Ninja playing Ninja?" the raven-haired boy scoffed. "That's pathetic, even for you, Naruto."

"Who asked you Saskue-teme?" Naruto yelled.

The pink-haired female on their team sighed as she ran a pale hand through her shoulder-length hair; she did not want to hear them banter today. "SHUT UP!" she yelled and immediately, all arguments were cut off.

Both the teens and the three children looked at her in fear. "C-calm down Sakura-chan," Naruto said.

"Tch, I'm going home," Sasuke said trying to sound indifferent, but you could tell he was scared of his pink-haired teammate.

"She's scary Naruto," Konoharmaru said.

Sakura smiled at him. "I'm sorry Kono-kun," she said. "How about we get some ramen? Naruto's treat."

Konoharmaru grinned up at her, "Okay Sakura-san!"

Naruto frowned, "Why do I have to pay?"

Sakura smiled, "'Cause I said so."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her. "Fine," he said and ran off with Konoharmaru towards the ramen stand.

Sakura laughed and followed with Udon and Moegi trailing behind.

However, Naruto and Konoharmaru had decided to take a shortcut and poor little Kono ran into a ninja with make up all over his face. The rest skidded to a stop, ready for trouble.

"What do you want punk?" the male yelled, picking up Konoharmaru by his scarf.

"Kankuro, stop! We didn't come here for this," a girl with spiky blonde hair said.

"Don't worry Temari, he's not here," Kankuro said, pulling back his arm.

'Temari-san? Kankuro-san? They're Gaara's siblings!' Sakura thought.

"Whe-"she began, when a rock his Kankuro's arm, making him drop Konoharmaru, who ran behind Naruto.

Everyone looked up to the tree and saw (dum dum duuuuuum!) Uchiha Sasuke. He crushed a rock and asked, "What are you doing in our village?"

"Get down here punk!" Kankuro yelled.

"Kankuro, enough," a cold voice demanded.

"G-gaara," Kankuro stuttered looking up at the red-haired boy. "Sorry, won't happen again.

"Shut up or I'll kill you," Gaara said to him. "Sorry for the trouble my brother has caused you." He said to everyone else.

He disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared on the ground.

"Gaara-kun," Sakura whispered.

Gaara turned to her. He stared at her pink hair for a moment before his eyes traveled to her forehead where he saw the kajin for love that he had put there years ago.

"Sakura-chan," he said, smiling slightly.

"Sakura?" Temari all but yelled, shocked.

She ran up to the pink-haired girl and hugged her tightly, spinning her around.

Sakura laughed. "Temari-senpai, put me down!"

Laughing, Temari complied. "You called me senpai," she said with mock seriousness. "I'm not _that_ old!"

Kankuro snorted and Temari glared at him. "Sakura, before Temari kills me, nice to see ya again. See ya!" he yelled running away with Temari chasing him, yelling curses.

Sakura looked back at Gaara and smiled. The red-head smiled back and appeared in front of her, hugging her tightly. Sakura grinned and laid her head on his shoulder.

"You know each other?" Sasuke asked, crossed.

"Yup," Sakura replied happily.

"How?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto, already knowing the story, poked Konoharmaru who scowled at him and jumped on his back. Moegi and Udon joined in and the tackled the older ninja to the ground, laughing.

Sakura smiled down at the scene. "Long story short: I went on a mission with my dad when I was six and met Gaara, we became really good friends. This is the first time we've seen each other in six year, but we've written letters to each other."

Gaara smiled a wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.

"Let's go get ramen," Sakura said blushing.

"YAY!" Naruto shouted, jumping up and throwing the three squealing academy students to the ground. "Kazekages son get's to pay!" Naruto smirked.

Gaara looked at him, "How do you know that I'm the Kazekages son?"

Naruto grinned, "I have my sources."

Gaara's eyes narrowed and Sakura shook her head.

"Don't bother trying to get anything out of him," Sakura sighed. "He doesn't spill."

Naruto laughed and lifted up Konoharmaru, he had finally succeeded in getting the three academy students off of him.

"To Ichirackus!" Naruto yelled, running off with Konoharmaru on his shoulders.

Sakura sighed, "We'd better go after him and keep him from eating a thousand bowls of ramen."

Gaara looked at her wide-eyed, and quickly sand-ported to the Ramen stand.

Sasuke watched them leave, glaring at the spot where the red-haired ninja had stood with his arm wrapped around HIS Sakura.

_That bastard stole __**my **__Sakura, _he thought angrily. _I'm going to kill him!_

*End Chapter*

Uhhh… well there's ch. 4… srry it's been so long since I've updated… I've had to help out around the house more than usual for the last couple months cause my mom got closer and closer to her due date  well... now I have a baby brother who was sorta on time- my mom went into labor on her due date o.O and had him the day after. He's… *looks at time* 10 days old now… and it's 2:16 am… and I'm supposed to be in bed. *mutters* damn soda… well… review? Plz, just a little one saying 'great job' or 'you suck' idc... I mean you don't have to, but I just deleted all my emails cause there were 221 and I didn't want to go through all of them and they were all from fanfiction XD… ummm… if anyones still reading this I'm surprised 

Well… R&R if you feel like it, fill up my inbox annnndddd sorta goodnight


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Chunnin Exams, Meet the teams**

Team Seven walked into the Academy and immediately noticed the large group gathered around a door with a poorly placed genjutsu and two kids being beaten up by two older genin.

One of the older genin had just hit down a brown haired girl and everyone was mumbling about how he could hit a girl.

Sasuke walked up to him and said, "Let us go by. This is only the second floor."

"So you saw through are genjutsu." One said.

"Sakura probably saw through it before all of us. She as the best eyes on our team after all."

"Hn." Was Sakura's reply to that as she glared daggers at the two 'genins'.

"Well get past this!" The other said aiming a roundhouse kick at Sasuke.

Sasuke retaliated, using the same kick, but before they could connect, the male with a bowl cut and a green jumpsuit caught both of their kicks.

"Don't start fighting now. Save that for later." he said, and then turned to Sakura blushing. "My name is Rock Lee! You must be Sakura! Will you be my girlfriend?! I'll protect you!"

Sasuke glared at him.

"No. Sorry Lee, but I'm taken." Sakura said.

Lee's face fell. "Oh." He said.

"You what's your name?" a pupil-less male with long hair asked in a cold voice.

"It's impolite to ask someone their name before giving their own." Sasuke said.

Sakura sighed. "Sasuke, Naruto. Let's go."

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They were standing in front of room 301 when their sensei appeared, and began telling them to be careful.

"Good luck guys. And don't die." he says, stepping aside to let them in.

"Thanks sensei." Sakura said her voice full of sarcasm.

Naruto was glaring at him, muttering under his breath about dumb teachers with their useless advice.

"Anytime Sakura." Kakashi said smiling.

They all glared at him one last time before they entered the room.

The room was filled with people from all ninja villages, all ready to fight to the death to become chunin.

Sakura looked around for Gaara and his siblings. When caught sight of a flash of red it disappeared and someone wrapped their arms around her and pulled her against a muscular chest.

"Sa-ku-ra." a voice breathed.

"Gaara." Sakura giggled.

The rest of the rookie 9 had appeared and were staring at them weirdly.

Sakura leaned into his chest, loving how he felt against her.

"Hello Sakura-san." A blonde haired sand nin said.

"Yo, waz up Sakura?" A sand nin wearing a black suit with purple paint on his face said.

Sakura giggled and looked up at them. "Hello Temari-senpai, Kankuro-kun."

"Are you going to introduce us, Forehead-girl?" Ino asked.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Ino-pig this is Sabaku no Gaara, and his siblings Temari and Kankuro. Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, meet the rookie 9. Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and myself. Team 9, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and his dog Akamaru, and Aburame Shino. Team 10, Yamanka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji."

"Pleasure," Temari said emotionlessly.

"So Forehead girl, what's Gaara to you?" Ino asked a knowing glint in her eye.

Sakura blushed. "He-He's m-my-"

She was cut off by Gaara saying. "I'm her boyfriend."

He nuzzled his nose in the crook of her neck and Sakura leaned into the touch.

"BOYFRIEND!!!!" Ino shrieked.

"SHUT UP!" Someone yelled.

"WHY DON'T YOU!" Ino yelled, even though she didn't know who said it.

"BITCH!" the person yelled.

"BASTARD SHOW YOURSELF!" Ino yelled.

"FINE I WILL!" a guy with shoulder length silver hair and coal black eyes appeared.

Ino and the guy stared at each other. Well, Ino believed in 'love at first sight' and her heart was immediately stolen by this hottie. Apparently, the other guy also believed the same thing because he looked like he was about to drool.

"Hey, I'm Tatsuo," the silver-haired genin said.

"I'm Ino."

They kept staring at each other.

"Get a room!" Kiba said.

"QUITE DOWN EVERYONE!" A male yelled. "I'm Morino Ibiki, the first examiner. Get a number and sit down!"

Everyone rushed to do as he said.

Sakura looked around and saw that Naruto and Hinata were sitting next to each other, the boy named Tatsuo was sitting behind Ino, and she was sitting next to Gaara.

Chapter 6: First test

Sakura smiled shyly at Gaara who smirked back. Sasuke watched them with barely withheld anger.

"...If you're caught cheating you lose 2 points. When you lose all your points' game over, you and your team is disqualified. If someone on your team doesn't get any points the whole team is disqualified." Ibiki said. "Begin."

Papers shuffled as they were flipped over. Sakura stared at hers. These were impossible for genin, heck most chunin wouldn't even know the answer, but Sakura wasn't like most genin and her intelligence was about chunin, so she got to work.

-----

Gaara smirked when he saw Sakura start to answer the questions. He started his technique, creating a third eye out of sand.

He saw that Sakura's teammate, Sasuke was using his bloodline limit, and her other teammate Naruto was pretending to freak out.

Yes Gaara knew that the blond was wearing a mask, he knew that he was very smart to.

-----

Naruto looked down at his paper... well glared at his paper. This was so easy! He picked up his pencil and wrote down the first answer and then put his pencil down and started 'freaking out'.

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Sakura hit her head on the table. 'Why the hell am i answering all these qestions? Why not only answer one?'

So Sakura stopped and looked to see how her teammates were doing.

-----

Sasuke was smirking. The answer to this test was so easy. He looked around and saw Sakura doing the same thing. Then he looked at Naruto and saw that the dobe was freaking out.

'That Dobe probably hasn't even put his name on the paper. Idiot.'

Then he went back to his test. Doing every single problem. After all he was the last Uchiha; he had to be the best.

----------

When there were ten minutes left Ibiki told everyone to put down there pencils.

"Before I ask this question is there anyone who wants to quit?" Ibiki asked. "Whoever does raise their hand and them and their team will be disqualified."

"Why would we want to quit?!" "Why would we want our teams to be disqualified?"

Ibiki silenced them. "If you don't answer this question correctly you will fail and never have the chance to take the exams again."

Hands were raised; teams were disqualified and people left. It ended with 8 teams being left, Five from Leaf, one from sound, one from rain, and one from sand.

"No one else?" No one moved, "Very well. You all... Pass."

Then a ball came through the window. "I'm Mitarashi Anko! The second examiner!"

* * *

*end chapter*

* * *

Hope you liked it :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: First test**

Sakura smiled shyly at Gaara who smirked back. Sasuke watched them with barely withheld anger.

"...If you're caught cheating you lose 2 points. When you lose all your points its game over: you and your team is disqualified. If someone on your team doesn't get any points the whole team is disqualified." Ibiki said. "Begin."

Papers shuffled as they were flipped over. Sakura stared at hers. These were impossible for most genin, heck even most chunin, to answer, but Sakura wasn't like most genin and her intelligence was on par with some chunin and above others.

With this on her mind, Sakura confidently got to work on the near-impossible test.

-----

Gaara smirked when he saw Sakura start to answer the questions. He knew she didn't need his help in getting through this part of the exams.

He placed two fingers over his left eye and began to form a 'third-eye' out of sand.

When he completed the technique he looked around for a target. Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura's dark-haired teammate, was using his own bloodline limit, sharingan, to copy the hand movements of the person in front of him. The he looked to Sakura's blonde-haired teammate, Naruto, he recalled. The jinjuriken was pretending to freak out.

Yes Gaara knew that the blond was wearing a mask. Gaara knew that beneath Naruto's idiot façade, the blonde was much smarter than most jounin and more powerful then the Hokage. If the so called 'idiot' had hidden his true nature all these years he had to be a genius.

-----

Naruto looked down at his paper... well glared at his paper. This was so easy! He picked up his pencil and wrote down the first answer and then put his pencil down and started 'freaking out'.

-----

Sakura nearly hit her head on the table as something suddenly occurred to her, 'Why the hell am I answering all these questions? Why not only answer one?'

So Sakura stopped and looked to see how her teammates were doing.

-----

Sasuke was smirking. The answer to this test was so easy. He looked around and saw Sakura doing the same thing. Then he looked at Naruto and saw that the dobe was freaking out.

'That Dobe probably hasn't even put his name on the paper. 'Idiot,' he sneered.

Then he went back to his test. Doing every single problem. After all he was the last Uchiha; he had to be the best.

----------

When there were ten minutes left Ibiki told everyone to put down their pencils.

"Before I ask this question is there anyone who wants to quit?" Ibiki asked. "Whomever does raise their hand and them and their team will be disqualified."

"Why would we want to quit?!" "Why would we want our teams to be disqualified?"

Ibiki silenced them. "If you don't answer this question correctly you will fail and never have the chance to take the exams again."

Hands were raised; teams were disqualified and people left. It ended with 8 teams being left, five from Leaf, one from sound, one from rain, and one from sand.

"No one else?" No one moved, however, some looked extremely nervous. "Very well, you all... Pass."

Then a ball came through the window. "I'm Mitarashi Anko! The second examiner!"

---

Hey people, sorry it's taken me so long to update! Summer passed more quickly than imaginable and then school started . I've been busy! And well… my baby brother was born and he's a big distraction XD … and my brother and I have been fighting more the usual (my 13, almost 14 year old brother! Not the 13 week old one!) so I've been getting in trouble .

Again sorry its taken so long!

~Eve


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

This chapter is going to be focused on Naruto. How he built his mask and whatnot. I thought it would be a good idea because I mentioned that he had a mask in the last chapter.

Onto the story!

-------------------------------------

Naruto was bored. Those who had passed were waiting for the second test to begin. Just outside the Forest of Death, or Training Area 44. Naruto looked into the forest again, and sighed. It didn't look scary, although it had a strong malevolent aura around it, but the aura seemed... fake; it really didn't bother him.

"Sakura," a voice whispered, causing Naruto to quickly turn towards his pink haired teammate.

'Sabaku no Gaara.' Naruto thought, looking at the red-head, whose arms were wrapped around his teammate.

Sasuke started growling and Naruto sighed wondering if they'd ever get along.

"Gaara, shouldn't you be with your team?" Naruto asked tilting his head to the side.

Gaara looked at the blond and smirked. "No."

"Whatever." Naruto shrugged and walked away.

----------------

Naruto POV

------------------

I walked away from the brewing fight, not wanting to be a part of it. Gaara was a jinjuriken like me, and Sasuke was scary as hell when he was mad.

I sat down and leaned against a tree, remembering when I had first started to use my mask...

*Flashback*

I sat in the back of Iruka-sensei's classroom, observing all the students and my teacher.

They were all pathetic; I just hoped to be out of here soon.

Then a raven haired boy came in with a teen that had black hair, and looked somewhat like him.

'Hmmm... Uchiha's?' I thought.

"Hello Itachi-san." Iruka said smiling.

"Iruka-sensei." Itachi replied.

"This must be Sasuke then."

"Yes."

'Sasuke, that's the younger one.' I thought.

"I have to go now Sasuke; I'll pick you up later," Itachi told his younger brother.

"Okay Aniki." Sasuke replied looking around.

As soon as Itachi left, Sasuke walked up and sat next to me.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He introduced himself.

"Uzumaki Naruto." I replied in monotone.

Sasuke frowned. "You should be more cheerful. It'd suit you better."

"You really think so?" I asked.

"Yeah!" Sasuke exclaimed, smiling.

*End Flashback*

Sasuke became my friend that day. The next I was happy, cheerful.

Then it changed, I remember hearing about the Uchiha Massacre, then Sasuke didn't come to school for two weeks and when he finally returned, he hated me. He finally saw me as a demon, like everyone else in the village.

He, as everyone else, thought for some reason, that I was the cause of the massacre.

"Oi! Dobe!" someone yelled. I looked up and saw Sasuke. "We're going in!" he yelled.

I nodded and stood up.

'Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, oh my!' I thought sarcastically

Sakura and Gaara exchanged one last hug before they went their separate ways.

'Be careful.' he had whispered to her.

Saukra smiled and waved to her two teammates.

"BEGIN!" Anko shouted as the gates opened simultaneously.

Team 7 rushed in, as did every other team.

"What's our plan?" Sakura asked as they ran deeper into the forest.

"Search and destroy." Sasuke said.

Sakura's eye twitched. "Are you kidding me? I don't want to die before this test is over, thank you very much!"

"I agree with Sakura-chan. I think we should come up with a new plan." Naruto said.

Sasuke stopped and turned to him. "Fine. Let's come up with a new plan."

Sakura sat down and looked up at Sasuke. "What are our provisions?"

The three looked through their bags, counting the number of shuriken, kunai, exploding notes, etc. that they had, as well has what food they had.

"I have 15 shuriken, 10 kunai, 5 exploding notes, and 4 solider pills. As well as some granola bars and medical Supplies and my canteen." Sakura said looking up at the two boys.

"I have scrolls, one has weapons sealed in it, and another has some food. I also have 10 shuriken, 20 kunai, 10 exploding notes, some makibishi, a few sebon, and my canteen." Naruto said.

Sakura and Sasuke stared at him in disbelief. He stared back, smiling.

"What? You thought I wouldn't come prepared? Sakura I thought that you of all people would know that Training Area 44 was the Forest of Death!" Naruto exclaimed.

Hehe…' Sakura laughed nervously. To tell the truth she'd never heard of it, despite the extensive research she'd been doing on... well everything, until yesterday.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" A scream echoed through the forest.

Naruto shivered. "Creepy." he muttered.

---------

Outside the forest:

Anko laughed as the terrified scream rang through the air.

"The test has BEGUN!" she shouted to herself as she pulled dango from out of thin air.

--------

Back to team 7:

Sakura and Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"Well?" Naruto asked.

"Hn," Sasuke said. "I have kunai, shuriken, exploding notes, and sebon. My canteen and some food."

Sakura blinked, "o..kay. NOW! Let's come up with a plan."

They put their heads together and started planning.

-----------------------

*Undisclosed Location*

"kukukukukukuku. Soon, soon you'll be mine!" evil laughter followed this exclamation.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

A gust of wind tore through the forest, hitting three genin on it violent path and blowing them away from each other.

POP!

All three turned to smoke.

"Wha..." the man's yellow eyes narrowed, "Kage Bushin," he muttered.

He turned and grabbed the wrist of the blond haired boy and threw him against a tree, then quickly blocked an attack by the pink haired girl.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" was yelled and the yellow eyed man jumped away from the large fireball heading towards him.

The three children landed in front of him.

"Kukukuku." The man said, "Very intresting."

"Who are you?" The blond asked.

"Orochimaru." the man answered.

The three froze at the Killer Intent aimed at them.

The forest was quiet and the children's eyes were wide with fear.

Then, red chakra began to leak out from the blond.

"Jinjuriken." Orochimaru muttered, suddenly remembering that Uzumaki Naruto was the Kyuubi's jinjuriken.

The red chakra formed a shell around the boy.

The boy roared and jumped towards Orochimaru, at the same time, the pink haired girl was whisked away in a coccon of sand.

'Interesting,' Orochimaru thought as he dodged Naruto. 'The pink haired girl has two jinjuriken protecting her.'

-----

*With Sakura*

"G-Gaara?" She asked.

"Are you okay Saku-chan?" The red head asked.

Her eyes widened. "What about Naruto and Sasuke?" She asked hurriedly.

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "Why do you care about them?" He hissed.

Green eyes widened and met sea green eyes.

"Gaara, they are my teammates." She said, tears in her eyes. "Please, are they alright?"

Gaara's eyes softened. "They're fine."

* * *

sorry this chapter isn't quite as long . next one is longer... i think...


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 **

Sakura clung to Gaara as she worried about her teammates.

"Please Gaara, take me back to them," she begged, she needed to know that they were alright.

Gaara looked down at her. Green eyes met and he sighed.

"Very well," He gave in.

The two of them were engulfed in a sand and they were transported to the battle zone between the two genin and the sanin.

---

Naruto growled, letting the Kyuubi's chakra take over his body.

The snake-man, Orochimaru, was smirking at him, underestimating him, like all the people in the village. Simultaneously two tails of malicious red chakra sprouted.

Sasuke was shocked out of his immobile state by the sudden burst of Naruto's chakra. He jumped back, instinctively knowing to stay away from his blonde teammate.

He looked frantically around for Sakura, but couldn't find her.

Naruto's red, silted eyes met yellow ones. The blonde attacked, throwing himself at the sanin.

Orochimaru jumped back, not wanting to get hit by the chakra surrounding the genin. He formed the seals for a fire jutsu.

Naruto smirked as he was hit by the red flames.

Sasuke called out in alarm as the younger boy was engulfed in flames.

Then, out of the flames, a giant red claw smashed down on Orochimaru.

Orochimaru screamed in pain- the combination of the Kyuubi's chakra and the wounds was overwhelming.

"Orochimaru- sama!" A white haired boy with glasses appeared.

"Kabuto," Orochimaru growled. "What did I tell you?"

"I-I'm sorry Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said.

Sasuke attacked, using Goukakyuu no Jutsu while the two weren't paying attention. The flames covered them.

Red chakra faded from Naruto's body and the blonde collapsed, breathing heavily.

Orochimaru smirked down at him. "Stupid Jinjuriken," he mocked, "Did you really believe that you could defeat me?"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Sasuke cried attacking.

Orochimaru smirked and either dodged or blocked each of Sasuke's attack, not even trying to attack.

Then, the pattern changed. Orochimaru grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulled the teen against his body.

"You will be mine Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said against his captive's pale neck.

Sasuke shivered. He screamed in pain as Orochimaru's teeth sunk into his flesh.

The pain was there only for a moment before a wall of sand knocked Orochimaru off of Sasuke.

"Kukuku, I'll be waiting for you Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said.

Sasuke barely heard it through wave after wave of pain that assaulted him.

"Sasuke! Naruto!" Sakura yelled in concern running up to her two injured teammates.

----------------------------------------------------------End Chapter--------------------------------------------


	10. Chapter 10

**Mark Chapter 10**

Recap:

"Kukuku, I'll be waiting for you Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said.

Sasuke barely heard it through wave after wave of pain that assaulted him.

"Sasuke! Naruto!" Sakura yelled in concern.

* * *

**Chapter 10  
**

Team 7 walked into the tower. Sakura and Naruto were both worried about Sasuke. He had been unconscious for the last few days and he would twitch in pain now and then.

Naruto and Sakura looked around the room while Sasuke was led away by Kakashi. Sakura was whisked away by Gaara and Naruto went over to the blue-haired Hyuga heiress. Naruto started flirting with the red-faced girl while Sakura talked to Gaara.

"Your teammate keeps looking at you," Gaara growled. His arm was wrapped around her waist.

"Naruto?" Sakura blinked, she was sure that her blonde teammate was obsessed with Hinata.

"No, The other one," Gaara said.

"Saskue?" Sakura asked. "I hadn't noticed."

"If he touches you, I'll kill him," Gaara growled.

Sakura blinked. "He won't."

She was sure of that.

* * *

A few more teams came in as the deadline came. There were 5 teams from Konoha and one from both sand and sound.

Kabuto, and odd leaf ninja, quit saying he was too tired to continue. That left the fights even.

"We will use *cough* the computer to decided fights at random," Hayate explained.

Everyone looked up as the names flashed by.

**Hyuga Hinata v. Yamanaka Ino**

Sakura looked towards the blonde girl and saw she was smirking.

"Woot!" Naruto cheered. "Go Hinata-chan!"

Sakura smiled and rolled her eyes at him.

"Will everyone by the two contestants leave the arena?" Hayate asked.

The genin cleared the field and climbed up to the balconies.

"You are not allowed to kill your opponent and I will stop the fight if I need to," Hayate said. "Do you understand?"

"Hai (Yes)," Both girls answered.

"Begin," Hayate said, jumping back.

"Byakugan!" Hinata yelled

As Ino formed the seals for her mind-switch technique, Hinata attacked. Ino cursed and dodged Hinata's blow.

Ino threw a punch. Hinata blocked and grabbed Ino's arms. She her open hand into Ino's chest, forcing chakra through, effectively winning the fight.

Ino gasped and fell to the ground.

"Winner, Hyuuga Hinata," Hayate coughed as the medics came to collect Ino.

"Yay Hinata-chan!" Naruto cheered.

Hinata grinned as she went up to join him.

* * *

The computer began shuffling through Names again.

**Uzumaki Naruto vs. Akadou Yoroi**

Naruto cheered, "MY TURN!" he jumped down into the arena.

The other guy, who was one of Kabuto's teammates also entered.

"Begin!" Hayate said when hey were facing each other.

The other guy moved first. Naruto didn't have time to even blink before Yoroi's arms were wrapped around him.

"You lose brat. I drain chakra," he mocked.

Naruto grinned. "Wrong."

Blue eyes fell closed and red chakra exploded from the blonde's body.

His opponent screamed in pain.

"My chakra is deadly to anyone but me," Naruto said in a dark voice.

The Konoha-nin was on the floor, his body jerking in pain as silent screams fell from his mouth.

* * *

Sakura shivered and leaned into Gaara while she watched the malicious red chakra surround her teammate.

"He's a jinjuriken, like I am," Gaara said, eyes wide. Sakura looked up at him.

"My chakra is deadly to anyone but me," Naruto's dark voice made her shiver.

Gaara's arms wrapped tighter around her.

"He's not going to hurt anyone," Gaara assured her.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto," Hayate said.

Naruto grinned as the medics collected the dying ninja. Then, the blonde jumped up next to Hinata.

* * *

**Inuzuka Kiba vs. Kankurou**

The fight was over before it began. Kankurou's puppet realeased a posion gas when Kiba attacked it. Kankurou won.

* * *

**Shikamaru vs. Kin**

Shikamaru won by capturing Kin in his shadow-possession jutsu and making her hit her head against the wall.

* * *

The computer shuffled through names yet again.

**Haruno Sakura vs. Tenten**

Gaara growled.

"Gaara, I'll be okay," Sakura assured.

Gaara nodded and reluctantly let her go.

Sakura walked onto the floor and faced the older, brown-haired girl.

"Begin!" Hayate called.

Tenten brought out a scroll and jumped in the air. The scroll was opened and blood slid across it.

Projectiles flew towards Sakura.

As they hit, Sakura's figure flickered, then disappeared.

Tenten landed on the ground and didn't have time to react as she was surrounded by Sakura petals. Tenten threw weapons to them, but the weapons only disappeared.

"Give up," Sakura's voice came from all around. "Your energy is being drained. Soon all of your strength will be gone and you'll die."

Tenten fell to her knees. This strange jutsu was already affecting her.

"I-I surrender!" she gasped.

The petals disappeared.

"Winner, Haruno Sakura!" Hayate announced.

Tenten had passed out ant the medics were collecting her.

"We'll take a short break and return to finish off the matches,"

Sakura shifted unsteadily on her feet.

Gaara appeared behind her and held her up.

"You're tired," Gaara said. "That jutsu took a lot out of you."

Sakura grinned. "Yeah, but I did it."

Gaara smiled. "Yes, you did."

* * *

Naruto smiled down at the couple.

"Naruto-kun," a soft voice said.

The blonde turned and grinned at Hinata.

"What's up Hinata-chan?" he asked.

"Y-" She was cut off by Naruto's silver-haired sensei.

"Naruto, we need to talk." Kakashi said.

Naruto looked up, his eyes screaming innocence, "About what Kakashi-sensei?"

"Your fight,"

"Oh," Naruto's face fell. "Well… I'll talk to you later Hinata-chan."

Naruto gently touched the shy girl's pale face and smiled.

Kakashi had begun to walk away, so Naruto ran to catch up.

"Naruto…kun…? Hinata said before her face went up in flames and she passed out.

* * *

Sakura was washing her face with cool water when the bathroom door opened.

She turned in time to be pushed against the wall and her mouth to be covered.

Her frightened emerald eyes stared at her dark-haired teammate.

"Your jutsu interests me Sakura-chan," Sasuke said mockingly. "Too bad it drained all your energy. Now I can make you mine and break the curse that Gaara has on you."

He brushed her bangs away, pinning her body with his.

Sasuke's fingers traced over the love mark on her forehead. Sakura hissed and her arms came up in an attempt to push Sasuke away.

Sasuke glared and grabbed her wrists. His knee went between her legs and he kissed her.

Sasuke's tongue forced its way into Sakura's moth. The pink-haired girl struggled, but Sasuke was bigger and stronger then her, especially now since she had just used a jutsu that required a lot of chakra.

So, she bit his tongue. Sasuke cursed and pulled away. Sakura screamed until Sasuke hit her.

"You BITCH!" he yelled as the door was splintered by two angry jinjuriken.

Gaara growled and threw himself at Sasuke while Naruto got Sakura out.

Sasuke dodged Gaara's animalistic attacks until Hayate, Kakashi and Gai appeared.

"Stop," Kakashi commanded. "Your names were chosen for the next battle. Fight there."

Gaara grinned sadistically.

* * *

**  
**

**End Chapter 10**


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys! Sorry this has taken so long. I wrote it a few months ago then lost it. I just spent the last two hours going through all my school stuff looking for it. XD hope you like it ^^

3 Ev

---

Mark Chapter 11

Tension was thick in the air as the two angry, powerful genin competitors faced each other.

Gaara was ready to destroy Sasuke; that much was obvious. Sasuke's rage was high because he had been unable to attain Sakura, not to mention that he was ready to fight to the death for Sakura.

"You aren't allowed to kill each other," Hayate said. "And when I call for the fight to end, it _ends_. Do you _both_ understand?"

Both preteens nodded.

"Very well," Hayate said. "Begin."

Gaara didn't give Sasuke time to blink, let alone move, before his sand plowed into the other boy.

It knocked Sasuke back across the room as it wrapped around him.

Gaara raised his arm and the sand came up with it, along with Sasuke who was glaring down at Gaara.

"I'll make you pay, Uchiha Sasuke," Gaara growled.

Sasuke smirked and disappeared, leaving only smoke to fill the space now in the sand. He reappeared behind Gaara and executed a side kick. Gaara's sand flew up, caught Sasuke's leg, and three the Uchiha across the room.

No one moved for a moment. Dead silence filled the air. Then, a burst of malevolent chakra blasted the rubble away from the fallen genin and said ninja rose with purple chakra swirling around him as black, flame-like marks spread across his face and down his arm.

Sasuke grinned wickedly at Gaara. "You're going to lose," he hissed, then charged, practically invisible, towards Gaara.

However, instead of attacking the red-head straight on, Sasuke appeared some ways behind Gaara, smirking as he completed the final seal for his jutsu.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled as his hand came towards his mouth. His thumb and forefinger formed an 'O' that pressed against his lips. The other three fingers on that hand stood straight in the air.

Sasuke blew out and a small stream of fire exploded into a large ball heading towards Gaara.

Gaara didn't have time to move, to blink, before the ball of fire hit him head on.

Sakura's high-pitched, terrified scream tore through the air as Sasuke watched on, smirking, as the fire died down.

---

Naruto's red eyes glared at the spy.

"What does Orochimaru's curse mark do?" the blonde growled, slamming Kabuto into the wall with his hand wrapped around the silver-haired genins throat.

Kabuto's answer was to spit in his captors face, show him refusal to answer.

Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously as he threw the silver-haired genin to the floor.

"If you want to play that way," Naruto smirked, "We will."

Kabuto tired to get up, but Naruto was quicker. He was straddling Kabuto's waist before he could blink.

"Now, now," The 12-year-old chastised as he pushed Kabuto's shoulders to the ground, "Be god and this might not hurt as much."

Naruto wrapped one hand around Kabuto's neck, pushing softly against the teens Adam apple, as he withdrew a few sebon from his weapon pouch.

Naruto the adjusted himself so one knee was pushing painfully into Kabuto's stomach and his shin was resting just to the side of Kabuto's privates on the older boy's thigh.

Kabuto looked up with wide eye; if he _twitched_ Naruto's leg would find a painful perch in his crotch.

"This is better," Naruto said calmly, "Now I know you won't move as much." The blonde lifted a sebon and twirled it between his fingers. "Before I begin, would you like to tell me what affect the curse mark as on Sasuke?"

Kabuto shook his head. He wouldn't betray his master. No matter what this brat did to him.

Naruto smirked, "Pity."

The blonde lifted one of Kabuto's hands and smiled. He pulled on the teen's pointer finger and held it straight.

"I suggest you don't move too much, or bad things will happen," Naruto warned as he placed one pointed end of the sebon just beneath Kabuto's nail, not pushing yet.

"Last chance," Naruto warned.

Kabuto's breathing sped up in fear, but he still refused.

Naruto blinked, "Ah well, more pain for you."

With that, Naruto jammed the sebon under Kabuto's nail, pushing it in about a centimeter before snapping it.

Kabuto screamed in pain; his back arched off the ground and his eyes shut tightly. There were many nerves beneath the nails, which made then a wonderful target for torture.

Naruto just stared at the withering getting. He could easily cause Kabuto more main by moving his leg, be he would save that for later.

"And now will you tell me?" Naruto asked.

Despite his current condition, and the knowledge that there was definitely more to come, Kabuto still refused to give up any information.

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Perfect."

---

The fight had been going on for a while; neither genin faltered nor gained the upper hand.

The fight was getting boring, but it wouldn't end until someone was unconscious or surrendered.

Hinata and Sakura were leaning against each other. Naruto had disappeared in the beginning of the fight, telling them to stay together. Both were curious about what the blonde was doing, but had been too entrapped with the fight to follow him at the time.

There was a scream, causing everyone to jump and look below.

Sasuke's arms had been broken and blood was seeping down it. The Uchiha was panting heavily as he stared at Gaara.

The red-head smirked at Sasuke and allowed his sand to creep up Sasuke's body to the other boy's neck.

Sasuke was in too much pain to respond as this happened and he was lifted into the air and slowly crushed. Glazed, black eyes stared down below.

It was obvious that Gaara was aiming to kill, or at least it was until Naruto appeared.

The blonde suddenly appeared next to Sakura and Hinata, covered in blood.

Gaara looked up as his friends chakra signature suddenly appeared.

"Gaara," Naruto said, "Don't kill him, but don't release him."

Gaara snarled; even if he knew that Naruto had a good reason for this, the Uchiha had harmed his mate.

"Gaara," Naruto's eyes narrowed when he saw that Gaara wasn't going to obey him. "Listen to me. You know I have a reason for this."

Gaara's eyes narrowed and he ordered the sand to slightly loosen its hold on Sasuke, whose head slumped forward as he finally fell unconscious.

Naruto grinned. "Thank-you, Gaara."

Hayate stepped forward. "Winner, Sabaku no Gaara!"

Naruto jumped onto the ground and caught Sasuke as Gaara's sand released him and returned to Gaara's gourd.

The blonde nodded to Gaara and ran off with Kakashi calling after him.

Gaara returned to the balcony and wrapped his arms around Sakura.

"Naruto was covered in blood," Hinata said.

"Yes," Sakura agreed.

"Why?" Hinata asked.

Sakura blinked and looked at Gaara who shrugged.

They stared after Naruto, wondering where the blonde had gone and where he was going.

---

*End*

Hope you liked it ^^ Review, please :)


	12. Chapter 12

Mark

Chapter 12

XxXxXxXx

Naruto stared down at his teammate. Sasuke was bound and surrounded by symbols written on the ground in black ink. They traveled up in body to a circle around the curse mark on Sasuke's neck.

What Kabuto had told him about Orochimaru's curse seal had been disturbing, but what was scarier was what Naruto _didn't_ know about the seal. At least he knew that a high-level seal would be needed to block it out, and if it just happened to be a demonic seal that Kyuubi had taught him… well, what they didn't know wouldn't kill him… hopefully.

"Naruto," ah, didn't Sasuke sound happy.

Naruto looked down at his cap- erm, friend. "Chill teme. I'm gonna get rid of a snakes influence."

Sasuke yanked against the bonds and yelled in pain as he jerked his broken arm. Opps… Naruto had forgotten about that and, apparently, so had Sasuke.

"Relax," Naruto said calmly. "And try not to move."

Then the jinjuriken's hands twisted to form seals foreign to Sasuke.

At the tenth seal, the symbols began to glow softly and at the twentieth, it was bright as day in the once-dark room.

As Naruto finished the last seal, he thrust both hands towards Sasuke and shouted something that the Uchiha didn't understand.

Red chakra pours out and surrounded Sasuke as the symbols ran up Sasuke's body towards the curse mark. Sasuke was screaming until the last circle of symbols surrounded the mark. He stopped for a moment, painting, thinking it was over, then, the red chakra, hanging in the air like a heavy fog, was absorbed into the seal and Sasuke started screaming once more. When it finished, Sasuke's body jerked for a moment before the boy finally passed out.

Naruto shook his head as he walked up to Sasuke. It wasn't _that _bad… Inside him, Kyuubi chuckled. The blonde rolled his eyes and ran his fingers over the dark red lines that now surrounded Orochimaru's mark. He nodded in satisfaction.

"Good," Naruto started as he cut the ropes. "Let's-"

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled, cutting the blonde off. "What did you do?"

xXxXxXxXxXx

Sakura and Hinata stood on the balcony watching as the computer shuffled trhough names once more.

[A/N: I'm going to go through these fights pretty quickly because, honestly, I'm tired of the prelims and I really want the story to move on.]

Aburame Shino vs. Abumi Zaku

Zaku was over confidant as he jumped down to confront the silent bug master.

While the sound ninja rambled on about he was going to "kick Shino's ass," the leaf ninja silently commanded his bugs to plug the air holes in Zaku's hands so he wouldn't be able to use his technique.

When they were ready, Shino finally spoke up. "If you're so confidant, then attack me."

Zaku sneered and brought his arms up, not realizing that his next move would injure him forever.

"Fine then! Zankuuha!" he shouted.

Nothing happened. Zaku was confused for a moment before he forced more air into his arms. They began to swell grotesquely. Then, they exploded. Zaku screamed and fell to the floor.

"W-winner!" Hayate coughed. "Aburame Shino."

xXxXxXx

Temari vs. Kinuta Dosu

The moment Hayate had said "begin", Dosu attacked using his sound technique to throw Temari off balance.

It worked, the blonde had fallen to her knees with her eyes tightly shut; then, Dosu had moved in to attack as Temari fought the pain and waved her fan, hoping to attack the sound genin with air. However, Dosu was too close and not expecting the move, so Temari ended up hitting him on the head with the metal part of her fan.

Needless to say, Temari won.

xXxXxXxXx

Hyuuga Neji vs. Tsuchi Kin

Neji won the fight within the first two minutes. He was too fast for the sound girl and he moved before she could blink, blocking her chakra points before Kim could begin her technique. The final blow was to her solar plexus. She fell to the floor coughing up blood and gasping for breath.

Neji returned to the balcony and Kin went to visit the hospital.

xXxXxXxXx

Tsurugu Misumi vs. Rock Lee

Like his teammate, Lee quickly finished his battle. Misumi couldn't keep up with Lee's superhuman (superninja?) speeds and Lee's first move was also the finishing one: a strong side kick to Misumi's unprotected ribs. The ones Lee hit broke and dug into Misumi's lungs. The other genin screamed in pain as blood leaded into his lungs.

Lee won, apologizing for hurting Misumi so badly.

xXxXxXxx

The final fight was between Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Couji. Not wanting to actually fight each other, the two played rock-paper-scissors.

Shikamaru won with paper.

xXxXxXx

With all the fights completed, the remaining competitors, aside from Naruto who couldn't be found, lined up.

"Now, you will draw numbers and you will be paired up for the final stage of the exams," Anko said holding out a bad.

One-by-one the contestants drew numbers from the bag. When Shikamaru drew his, Anko reached in and pulled out a one.

"Okay, so Naruto is one," Anko said.

Hayate nodded and wrote Naruto's name down.

"Who has two?" Anko called.

And it continued. Once the eight genin had given their numbers, they were shown the paper.

"In one months' time," Anko began, "You will participate in a tournament. These are your opponents."

The paper Hayate had been writing on was held up.

_Kankuro vs. Aburame Shino_

_Temari vs. Nara Shikamaru_

_Rock Lee vs. Hyuuga Neji_

_Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Hinata_

_Sabaku no Gaara vs. Haruno Sakura_

XxXxXxX

End Chapter 12

Dun Dun Dun

Okay, sorry this took so long =) I've had this written for a while, I just don't like typing it up

Hope you liked it. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.

Thanks for the reviews.

~Ev


	13. Chapter 13

**Mark Chapter 13**

One month had passed since the end of the preliminary rounds of the Chunin exams One month since the final battles had been decided. One month since Hinata had started her rigorous training routine. One month since Gaara and Sakura had started training together. . One month since Sasuke had been hospitalized with a demonic seal. One month since Kakashi had confronted Naruto. One month since said boy had disappeared. And now, there was one day left before the start of the final stage of the Chunin Exams…

-----

Naruto sat in the hospital having a glaring contest with Sasuke.

Since Kakashi had walked in on them, Naruto had spent most of his time locked up in an ANBU holding cell that drained his chakra. Once a week, he was brought to the hospital and ordered to remove the seal, something he refused to do each time, and this time wouldn't be any different.

"Why won't you remove the seal, Dobe?" Sasuke finally asked.

Naruto grinned, finally. "So you won't disappear, Teme."

Sasuke grabbed his shoulder where both seals were. "I wouldn't have."

Naruto rolled his eyes and stood up. "Yes you would've. You're too obsessed with revenge," the blond stretched and looked down at Sasuke. "Just remember where Itachi and Orochimaru gained their power originally."

Then, the blond was gone and Sasuke was left on his own to ponder his teammates parting words.

-----

Sakura collapsed on the ground. She and Gaara had just finished sparring and, as she had learned in the last month, sparring with Gaara wasn't exactly easy.

"You did well," Gaara said as he sat down next to her.

Sakura gave him a weak smile. "You still won," She said.

Gaara shrugged. "The fight tomorrow won't last that long."

Suddenly, Sakura was sad. She didn't want to fight Gaara. It wasn't fair. She was suppose to be his friend, his girlfriend, his protector, not his opponent.

"Don't let me win Sakura," Gaara said as if he could sense her thoughts. "I want you to fight me like you have been the last month."

Sakura nodded, "Okay Gaara-kun."

Gaara gently touched her cheek, "I'm serious Sakura. If you try to throw the fight or you don't fight to the best of your abilities, I'll be _very _upset."

Sakura nodded stiffly. "I understand." Even if I don't like it, she added silently.

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "I hope so Sa-ku-ra," he said drawing out her name seductively, making said girl shudder. "If you disobey me, the consequences will be severe."

Sakura moved away and stood up. "I know," she said, the she looked up at Gaara. "Do you want to get food? I know where we might run into Naruto."

Gaara nodded, he had wanted to talk to his fellow jinjuriken for a while.

"Very well," the red head said as he helped Sakura up.

-----

Naruto was eating ramen hat his favorite ramen stand, Ichiraku's. He was on his third bowl of ramen when Ayame finally spoke up.

"Where have you been, Naruto-kun?" the stand's owner asked worriedly.

"Training," Naruto lied easily as he flashed her is trademark grin. "I'm gonna be in the exams tomorrow!"

The old man smiled. "I had heard about that Naruto-kun. Congratulations!" he placed another bowl of ramen in front of the blond and took the empty one away. "On the house, Naruto."

Naruto grinned happily. "You're the best old man! Thanks!" He was taking his first bite of the new bowl when Gaara and Sakura walked in.

"Hey!" the blond greeted after swallowing.

"Hello Naruto," Gaara replied sitting two seats away so Sakura could sit next to him.

"Where have you been?" Sakura asked her teammate as she sat down.

Naruto held up one finger so he could finish chewing and swallowing his current mouthful of ramen.

"What would you like?" Ayame asked while they were waiting for Naruto to finish his bite.

Sakura looked up smiling. "Two bowls of miso please."

Ayame nodded. "Okay, it'll be right out." She smiled at the two and went to help her father.

"Well?" Gaara asked. He was also curious about where the blond had been for the past month. Both he and Sakura had been worried.

"ANBU headquarters," Naruto said softly so the old man and Ayame couldn't hear. He didn't want them worrying anymore the necessary.

"Why?" Sakura said in shock. Why on earth would they keep Naruto?

Naruto smirked and twirled his chopsticks in the noodles. "I put a demonic seal on Sasuke to cancel out the effects of Orochimaru's curse seal."

Gaara nodded and smirked. "That would do it."

Sakura, however, didn't find it amusing. "Are you stupid? You could've been killed! Or gotten into more troubled then you actually did!"

Naruto smiled at her. "Don't worry Sakura. I'm fine as long as Sasuke doesn't die… or disappear."

Sakura glared, but gave in and sighed. "Right…" she said as bowls of ramen were placed in front of her and Gaara. "Well," she started after taking a bite, "Have you talked to Hinata-chan yet?"

Naruto blushed and quickly finished off his ramen.

"Thanks old man! Ayame!" he called, rushing off and leaving money on the counter.

"That's a no," Sakura muttered rolling her eyes.

Ayame chuckled and shared a look with her father.

Gaara smirked as he started at Sakura. Maybe I should do something to help Naruto, he thought. Then he delved deeper into this thoughts remembering how amusing the blond boy was when he was frustrated or embarrassed and decided against it.

-----

Hinata was sparring whit her father when Naruto suddenly appeared nearby. Her eyes lit up with determination. She was going to prove herself with Naruto watching.

Hinata turned and rushed towards Naruto.

Naruto grinned as he caught her and spun her around during a hug.

"I missed you Hinata-chan," Naruto said softly, pulling her close.

"I missed you too," Hinata said hugging him back. Then she pushed him away and punched him, hard.

Naruto stared at her in shock as his hand flew up to cuddle his cheek.

"Hinata-chan!" he whined in protest.

The girl wouldn't hear it though. She glared at him menacingly as she stalked forward.

"Explain. Now." She hissed angrily. Her eyes were narrowed to slits as she looked at the boy.

Naruto chuckled nervously as he replied. "I was in an ANBU holding cell."

That did it. Hinata screamed in rage and attacked. She didn't bother using chakra, preferring to stick to brute force as she punched and kicked the defenseless blond.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto finally screamed. "Mercy! Mercy! Please!"

Hinata finally stopped hitting Naruto; however, she didn't let up on the glare.

"I put a demonic seal on Sasuke to control the influence of Orochimaru's seal! I was put in a holding cell until I agreed to remove it! But they realized that nothing was happening to Sasuke and I refused to remove it time after time so they let me go!" Naruto said quickly, but Hinata's glare didn't let up so he quickly added, "That was it! Nothing else!"

"Idoit," Hinata muttered, but her eyes soften so it was obvious she forgave him, at least a little.

Naruto grinned. "So, who am I fighting tomorrow?" he asked, totally changing the subject.

Hizashi came forward and put his hand on Hinata's shoulder.

"Me," Hinata said seriously, looking the boy straight in the eye.

* * *

Okay, really sorry this has taken so long, but hey, I finally updated

Umm… hope you enjoyed it!

~Ev


	14. Chapter 14

Sorry this has taken so long. I wasn't sure what to do for the fights. Hope you enjoy! Oh! My baby brother's walking! :)

Mark Chapter 14

Genma looked at the contestants that stood in a half-circle around him.

Uzumaki Naruto, surprisingly, wasn't standing next to Hyuuga Hinata, but rather, across from her and doing everything in his power to avoid her gaze. Next to him stood Sabaku no Gaara, the blonds fellow jinjuriken, and then there was Haruno Sakura. Temari and Kankuro stood next to her. They were silent, masking any emotions. Nara Shikamaru and Aburame Shino were next, neither one felt the need to talk. Finally were Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji.

"Listen up," Genma said finally. The genin looked at him with apt attention. "For those of you who don't remember, you will be fighting the following people." Genma held up a sheet of paper showing the fights.

Naruto let out a pained sigh, he had been hoping that Hinata had been messing with him, but it seemed that she had been telling the truth, he would have to fight her after all.

Gaara squeezed Sakura's hand reassuringly and she gave him a small smile.

"If everyone's ready," Genma started. "The first two contestants shall stay and the other will go to the observer box that has been reserved for contestants," Genma said and pointed to a door on the wall.

Quickly, everyone aside from Shino and Kankuro left.

"There is one rule," Genma said, "You listen to my instructions. If you fail to follow my orders, you will be disqualified."

The two genin nodded. Genma looked at both of them once book. "Very well. Begin!" he shouted, jumping back.

Kankuro attacked first, sending his puppet, crow, straight at Shino.

Shino dodged, but the move was futile as Kankuro could change the direction off the puppet in midair simply by twitching his fingers.

This time, however, Shino let the puppet hit him. Kankuro was surprised by the move and jerked crow back almost immediately, suspecting something.

Shino jumped up and rushed Kankuro. The sand nin smirked and brought up crow to defend him. Shino dodged to the right, effectively moving around the puppet. Shino brought up his arm and aimed a punch at Kankuro.

Kankuro's heart raced as he quickly brought up his free arm to block. He couldn't fight well with only one arm and if he used the other, the chakra strings that connected crow to him would be disconnected and if he tried to use crow, it was a big possibility that he would get caught in the attack.

Of course, he could always use _that. _Kankuro smirked and jumped back as Shino started a crescent kick.

Crow came with him and in the few seconds it took Shino to right himself after the kick, Kankuro had crow wrapped around his opponent.

"You lose," Kankuro said cockily. Then, white mist seeped from the puppet, surrounding Shino.

Kankuro's eyes sparkled, he had been working on this for so long and now, seeing it all come together, was beautiful.

Finally, the smoke cleared. Kankuro was expecting to see Shino slumped against Crow, unconscious or dead. However, crow lay on the ground and Shino was gone.

What? Kankuro thought. How did I miss that?

Then, the genin noticed that he no longer had chakra strings connecting him to crow. The puppet was just that, a puppet, slumped over, lifeless, unable to do anything without his master.

Kankuro frantically looked around for his opponent, trying to decide on his next course of action. He could reconnect strings to crow, but if the puppet was booby trapped, that would do more harm than good, but if he just left crow there his main ability to fight and defend himself would be gone. Although, Shino would be having a tough time as well, even if he did get away. That smoke was a particularly potent bug spray that Kankuro had… acquired a few months back. It would kill most on Shino's hive… hopefully. Kankuro shuddered at that thought. It was disturbing to think of bugs using a human for a… hive.

Kankuro heard a noise behind him and drew a kunai as he spun around. The two weapons clashed and Kankuro swiped at Shino. The 'boy' dissolved into a piled of bugs that swarmed him.

Kankuro screamed. Then, he slowly lost energy as his chakra was drained. He smacked his arms and chest, trying to get the bugs off, but it was useless. They were everywhere, on his arms and neck, his legs and feet, in his hair, crawling over his face. And they kept moving, shifting everywhere.

And then, they were gone, and Kankuro was on the floor, face pressed against damp grass, legs slightly spread, arms limp and close to his body.

A weight appeared on his back and a kunai was pressed to his throat. Kankuro groaned, hadn't Shino won yet? He, Kankuro, obviously couldn't continue. Was this some kind of punishment?

"Surrender," The bug boy said calmly. To Kankuro, Shino didn't sound tired or even a little breathless. Kankuro felt like he had just fought three S-class criminals simultaneously and lost and Shino sounded perfect. If anything Shino's voice should be strained because of the loss of some of his hive a result of the bug spray.

Shino jerked Kankuro's head up via the sand genin's hair and pushed the kunai deeper into his flesh. "Surrender," Shino repeated.

"I-I surrender," Kankuro gasped out.

The kunai was removed and the weight vanished. However, seconds later, there was a soft thump. Kankuro used the last of his energy to turn towards the noise. He inwardly smirked at what he saw. The bug boy was unconscious on the floor. Kankuro may have lost, but on because, somehow, Shino had managed to fight off the effects of the bug spray in order to avenge his tribe. Kankuro was happy that the bug spray had at least some effect on Shino and he was once again amazed at the effect adrenaline and rage had of the body. Of course, you always crashed afterwards, so it didn't really help if you needed to get away after a fight.

"Winner," Kankuro faintly heard Genma shout. "Aburame Shino!"

Then, he too fell into oblivion.

Gaara and Sakura watched the fight while Naruto sat between them, leaning on the wall. His eyes were on Hinata who was talking quietly with her cousin.

"Do you want to make a bet?" Sakura asked, trying to distract her friend.

Naruto looked up. Two sets of green eyes were looking down at him: one with unmasked worry and the other with masked worry. Sakura and Gaara were similar, Naruto thought. They both have green eyes and hair a shade of red and the kanji for love on their forehead. Is that why they get along so well? He wondered silently.

Sakura, realizing her friends' confusion, sat down next to him. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled the younger boy against her with the one armed hug.

"Come on," she said softly. "What's wrong?"

"How am I supposed to fight Hinata?" Naruto asked, his voice cracking slightly.

Gaara looked down at the two. If Sakura had been hugging anyone else, he would have ripped the person to pieces, but Naruto, Naruto was different. Gaara knew that the blonde wouldn't try anything with Sakura. He knew that Naruto wouldn't take another jinjuriken's mate. He was like Kyuubi in the respect. Gaara also knew that Naruto was torn up over having to fight his mate, so he kneeled down.

"Sakura and I are fighting as well," Gaara said. Blue eyes looked at him. "If we can do it, you can as well. I've marked Sakura. You have yet to mark Hinata. It will be easier for the two of you to fight because of that. Understand?" At the blonds' not, Gaara continued. "Good. Sakura and I have been training together for the last month so we've killed some of the instinct that makes us not want to hurt each other."

"O-okay," Naruto said. He took a deep breath. "If you guys can do it, I guess I can as well. Believe it!" Naruto flashed a brilliant grin at hi two friends and turned to Sakura. "I bet on bug boy!"

Sakura smirked, "As do i."

They both turned to Gaara. "Kankuro," the read head said confidently.

Sakura and Naruto smiled at each other. Their grins only grew when, moments later, Genma called out, "Winner! Aburame Shino!"


	15. Chapter 15

**Mark Chapter 15**

"Will the next two contestants enter the field?" Genma called after the medics had collected both Shino and Kankuro.

Up in the box, Temari looked over at her opponent and smirked. She was overconfident about her ability to win the match. From what she had observed about Shikamaru, he was an underachiever as well as lazy.

"Temari, be careful," Gaara said as his sister opened her fan.

Temari nodded and waved her fan, creating air currents that would let her float down to the floor of the stadium. She then threw her fan over the gate and jumped on top of it, doing just that.

"Aren't you eager?" Genma asked, and then he looked up at the remaining contestants. "Shikamaru! Get down here!" he yelled.

"So troublesome," Shikamaru said as a single thought ran through his mind. Can't I just forfeit?

The thought was quickly banished when Naruto appeared by his side. Way to close for comfort. "Get down there and win!" the blond shouted. Right. In. His. Ear.

Shikamaru winced and looked at his fellow genin. The "look" was murderous, filled with threats of pain for the damage the blond had inflicted on his hearing. Naruto brushed off the glare, giving him his biggest grin before moving behind him, his eyes full of mischievous.

"Naruto, what are yo- AHH!" Shikamaru was quickly cut off as Naruto lifted him up.

"Up you go!" Naruto chirped. "And off you go!" he said just as happily as he threw Shikamaru over the rail and out of the box.

Saukra was staring at her friend in shock. She knew he did idiotic things like that, but to do it in front of hundreds of people was… so much like him. She groaned and let her head fall onto Gaara's shoulder. She could feel the shocked gazes of those watching. They were mostly directed at Naruto, but some were looking at the rest of them, most likely wondering why they had done nothing to stop the energetic blond.

Shikamaru flew through the air, mentally yelling at Naruto for throwing him so far, then, he started descending towards the ground. He hit the ground, not bothering to catch himself, hoping that the shock would be enough to knock him out… or break one of his bones so he had a valid reason to forfeit. Sadly, that wasn't the case. He slid across the ground, feeling rocks tear at him and dig to his skin painfully. Surprisingly, Shikamaru came to a stop in front of Temari and Genma.

Shikamaru turned over to look at the sky. Hmm, he thought. That could looks like a rabbit. That was the only observation he was able to get in before Temari's angry face appeared in his line of sight.

"That was a very… unorthodox entrance," Genma finally said, breaking the silence.

Shikamaru sighed, "So troublesome…"

"Good luck Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled, once again drawing the gaze of the audience. His bright grin was visible to even Shikamaru who was still lying on the ground.

"Get up!" Temari hissed and sighing, Shikamaru did just that, not wanting to make the girl more upset.

"Are you both ready?" Genma asked.

"Yeah! Start the match already!"one of the spectators yelled.

"Yes," Temari said, glaring evily at her opponent.

So troublesome, Shikamaru thought once more. "I suppose so," he said out loud.

"Very well," Genma said as he glanced between them once more. "Begin!" He jumped back, even though he didn't see the need to. It didn't look like the match would go far fast.

Temari attacked almost immediately. Her fan was open in seconds and she waved it towards Shikamaru. The boy was blown backwards towards the wall. He hit it and fell, once more, onto his back.

Why does this keep happening? He thought miserably.

"Get up and fight!"Ino yelled from the spectators stand. "Come on Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru sighed and looked over at Temari, she looked angry.

"If you aren't going to do anything, then I will!" she yelled and ran towards him wielding her fan like a sword.

Shikamaru thought fast he pulled out two kunai and jammed them into the wall. He jumped up on them, just in time for Temari's fan to crash down to where he had been milliseconds before.

"I really don't want to fight," Shikamaru explained to his shocked opponent. "And I don't care one way or another if I become a chunin, but there is no way I'm going to lose to a girl."

Temari smirked at him, finally, maybe this would he exciting. She moved to the side and waved her fan at Shikamaru, sending blades of wind towards him and letting the rebounding shock push her back away from the chaos. A cloud of dust and dirt covered the area, leaving Temari on high alert in case Shikamaru appeared out of it.

Temari didn't really have to worry, as she found out moments later when the dust cleared, Shikamaru had fled the scene, deciding to hide in the trees.

Of course, I can't just go around hitting women, Shikamaru thought gazing at Temari from his spot in the trees. So I need to come up with a plan.

Out in the open, Temari was thinking about what she knew about her opponent. He uses shadows, so if I don't go into the trees I should be okay.

Finally, Temari got tired of the wait. "Ninpou: Kamiitachi!" She yelled, waving her fan towards the trees.

Shikamaru brought his arms up to protect himself as the trees were whipped around from the wind. He smirked, he could get her now. He brought his hands up and extended his shadow.

Temari watched the dust storm carefully. Then, she saw she saw the shadow shooting out of it. Her eyes widened and she jumped backwards multiple times as it came closer. It's getting smaller, she thought. Then, it stopped. Temari smirked and drew a line right after it.

"Looks like there's a limit to your ability to stretch and manipulate the shape of your shadow, after all." Temari said confidently. "No matter how much you change your shadow, it still can't stretch further then the surface are of your normal shadow, am I right?"

"Heh, yeah," Shikamaru said.

Temari began calculating the distance she had in her head. She added in the boost of the walls shadow when Shikamaru was flush against it and smirked. 15 meters and 12 centimeters, she thought. That's how far his shadow can stretch. Good, I'm better at ranged combat anyways. She looked at the ground, more specifically, her line. As long as I stay behind this line, I'm good.

Shikamaru looked up at the sky again. The clouds are so free, he thought wishfully. I wish I could be that free. He lowered himself to one knee against the wall and touched his thumbs and fingers from both hands together to form an "O" as she shut his eyes and looked at the ground?

Up in the stands, spectators were confused.

"What's he doing?" Kurenai asked Asuma in confusion.

Asuma smiled as he looked down at his student. "It's best explained as his 'thinking pose'. It's a habit of his when he's backed into a corner. He's working on a strategy when he does that, and as a result of it, I have never won a game against him."

Kurenai blinked in astonishment. "Really? He was suppose to be on the same level as Naruto! I saw his academy grades."

Asuma smirked at her, "He always said it was too much of a hassle to do the academy tests, he would just sleep through them." Asuma thought back to a particular event. "I thought it was odd that he could be so good at strategies, yet have such poor grades, so I had him take an IQ test in the disguise of a game…"

"And?" Kerenai pushed, curious as to the secrets behind the young genin.

Asuma gave her a grin, "His IQ was over 200."

Over… two-two hundred? Kurenai thought in shock.

Shikamaru, coincidently, finished his planning at that moment. He looked up at Temari with his eyes shining in determination.

"Looks like you're ready to get serious!" Temari shouted. "Kamaiitachi no Jutsu!" she yelled once more, waving her fan towards Shikamaru.

He dodged out of the way and returned to the cover the trees offer as he drew a kunai.

"There's no use in hiding!" Temari shouted.

Sitting against a tree, Shikamaru removed his jacket. He watched Temari as he panted for breath. Sweat poured down his face, giving the dust and dirt stirred up by Temari's attack a better ability to stick to his skin.

"Will you stop running and give up already?" Temari yelled, waving her fan again.

A kuani flew out of the dust, coming straight at her, she moved forward, skidding to a stop right before the line while spinning her fan in order to deflect it. Then, Shikamaru's shadow flew forward, surprising her. It's no use, she thought. It can't pass the- she was forced to move backwards again as the shadow did just that. It passed the line, almost reaching her before it came to a halt.

"I get it, you were waiting for the sun to lower, so the shadows of the wall would get longer," Temari said.

"Good job, Shikamaru!" Ino shouted from the stands.

Temari looked down at the tip of the shadow at her feet. From my calculations earlier, she thought. This should be the limit of his jutsu. However, she missed Shikamaru's gaze at the sky, her brothers, on the other hand, didn't.

"Temari! From above!" Gaara yelled.

Temari looked up in shock as a kuani descended slowly, tied to it, was Shikamaru's jacket. Then she looked down again as a circular shadow formed, allowing Shikamaru's shadow to lengthen. Temari jumped away, but Shikamaru wasn't giving up.

"You won't escape!" Shikamaru yelled, continuing to peruse her with his shadow.

Temari smirked as she jumped backwards, once again out of the range of Shikamaru's shadow. If I keep doing this, Temari thought. His shadow will keep growing until I'm unable to avoid it. I need to end it here. If I put all my power into this Kamaitachi, I can rip him apart. Right now, his shadow is far enough away. Her eyes narrowed. Good. She raised the fan over her head and froze.

Impossible, she thought as her eyes widened in shock. No way, my body… I can't…. her fan fell from her hands. Shikamaru's hands moved apart.

"Finally, Shadow Copy no Jutsu, Success!" Shikamaru said, smiling at Temari.

"What?" Temari said.

In the stands, Naruto looked on in shock while Gaara and Sakura evaluated it, quickly seeing what had happened.

"What happened?" Temari said. "Your shadow couldn't have reached that far!"

Shikamaru smirked at her. "I'll let you see what's behind you." He turned his head, and, as a result of the jutsu, Temari was forced to turn hers as well.

Behind her were fallen trees, trees that had fallen as a result of her jutsu. Shikamaru was able to extend his shadow into the small forest and then use the shadows of the trees to get to her.

Shikamaru began walking forward and Temari moved with him, once she was close enough, he was able to use his normal shadow.

"Go for it Shikamaru!" Ino yelled.

"You can do it!" Naruto yelled.

Gaara and Sakura were watching intently, so were the rest of the spectators. They had just seen a miraculous battle plan and were waiting to see how this battle would end.

When they were feet from each other, Shikamaru raised his arm and, with her eyes clenched, Temari did as well.

"That's it," Shikamaru said. "I give up."

Temari's eyes flew open in shock. Ino gaped at her teammate while Chouji snickered, knowing how it was going to end from the get-go. Naruto had slumped to the ground in shock while Sakura shook her head in amusement.

"W-what!" Temari yelled.

"I give up," Shikamaru repeated, sweat dripping down his face. "The continuious use of this jutsu has drained my chakra. I can bind you for about 10 more seconds, barely. Ah well, I had planned about 200 more moves, but I'm out of time. I'm getting tired of this anyways; one match is more than enough for me."

Weird guy, Genma thought. "Winner!" he called out as Shikamaru cancelled his jutsu, "Temari!"

* * *

End Chapter 15

* * *

A/N: Well… I'm really, really, really, really, really, really, really sorry that took so long. I had this chapter pretty much done since before I posted chapter 14, but then I had finals that I had to study for and this was with my school stuff so it kinda…vanished once school ended. Then I was on a mission to clean my room which took like… three weeks and then I had to do a crappy job of putting stuff away for my birthday. Then I was looking through my folder of fanfics for it and it wasn't there so I had to go through all my school stuff… again and, finally, I found it! Then I had to finish up the battle scene…

On the topic of the battle scene, I was trying to make it as close to the manga/anime as possible, but then I realized that Naruto hadn't gone up against Neji, so there were no holes… That whole tree thing probably wouldn't really work, but it was pretty much all I could come up with… Well… it's plausible… sorta, taking that my other idea was that Shikamaru had dug a hole -_-'

Well, R&R please!


	16. Chapter 16

**Mark**

**Chapter 16: A Battle of Rivals**

_Weird guy, Genma thought. "Winner!" he called out as Shikamaru cancelled his jutsu, "Temari!"_

Medics came to escort Temari off the field while Shikamaru made his way back up to the contestant's observation booth. The climb up the stairs was quiet and lonely, but it gave Shikamaru time to think. A lot had changed since Gaara had appeared at the beginning of the chunnin exams. Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata had all changed in one way or another and the rest of them were on their way to changing as well. It was disturbing to say the least and worse was that Shikamaru was the only one who saw it. He sighed and shook his head. He did not want everyone to change. He had finally figured his year mates out and his year mates changing would be troublesome for him.

As Shikamaru made his way up the stairs, he heard Genma call out, "Next battle, Hyuuga Neji verse Rock Lee," and cheers echo through the stadium.

Shikamaru groaned and rubbed his ears. The sound reverberated in the staircase and hurt his ears. Troublesome, Shikamaru thought with a sigh.

XxXxXxX

Neji and Lee face each other on the field. Up in the stands, people cheered and rooted for the contestant they wanted to win, but the two rivals were deaf to this. A tense atmosphere, that only Genma was subjected to because of his proximity to them, surrounded the two.

"Do you both understand the rules?" Genma asked.

Neji and Lee looked at him and he was able to compare the two. Lee held a fiery determination about him and his eyes blazed with that "Flame of Youth" Gai always preached. Neji's eyes, however, were hard and cold, as was his face, although his posture also denoted confidence. They were two extremes and they would be fighting each other. Genma was hard pressed on deciding who would win. Before he had seen them, he would have said that Neji would win because he was a part of the Hyuuga clan, the elite since the destruction of the Uchiha clan. However, now that Genma was faced with Gai's prodigy, he had second thoughts. Rock Lee might have the determination needed to defeat a Hyuuga.

Both of them nodded.

"Very well. Then, begin!" Genma yelled and jumped back as Lee lunged forward to attack.

Neji moved right to avoid Lee's punch, only to move right into the genin's quick round house kick. Neji ducked under to avoid it. After that, Lee did not land many more hits. The green-clad boy was fast, but Neji was faster. He smugly dodged all of Lee's punches and kicks without activating his bloodline, which was a blow to Lee's pride.

Neji knew his teammate too well, blindly rushing in trying to get the upper hand before his opponent had time to react. Neji, however, calculated his moves and planned to the best of his abilities. Obviously, he could not do this as well as a Nara, but he had trained both his mind and his body to gain recognition from the head of the Hyuuga clan and this would be his chance to prove himself. He would not let Lee beat him, no matter what. Today, he would gain the recognition he had sought since the death of his father by exposing his knowledge of techniques that he was not suppose to know. Techniques that were only suppose to be known by the main branch of the Hyuuga family.

The Hyuuga's prized combat style would not work to block Lee's chakra simply because the green-clad teen did not use it. However, Neji realized as he dodged another hit, the chakra system ran close to the organs and _these_ Neji could damage. It would be risky, yes, for he could still kill or seriously harm Lee, but it was a risk he was willing to take. He _needed _to prove himself.

Lee jumped away from his opponent. "I will win, Neji!" he shouted. "The Flames of Youth will prevail!"

He reached down and unlatched his legwarmers so Neji could see the weights inside. Then, he dropped them. A could of dust went up when they hit the ground with a loud THUMP. Neji's eyes narrowed as he kept his attention on Lee. Then, the boy was gone from Neji's sight, faster than he could blink. The Hyuuga spun around looking for him, but as soon as he turned his back, Lee kicked him. Neji fell forward in shock. How could this dead last get so far ahead? When had Lee become so much faster than him?

Head spinning, Neji activated his byakugan for the first time since time since the fight started. Hopefully, it would allow him to better track Lee's movement. He stood and slowly scanned the area with his eyes waiting for Lee to move. There! Neji spun and threw a kunai three feet left of the flash. It hit the wall as Neji dodged Lee's attack. This time, the attacks did not left up. Neji was forced to dodge each attack; however, most of them hit.

Sweat dripped down his face as he panted. Lee's attacks were almost too fast for him to follow and they would be impossible if not for his Byakugan which allowed him to barely glance Lee at the edges of its capacity if Lee was not attacking straight on.

Naji finally got annoyed when Lee hit him three times in a row. He gathered his chakra and moved into the juken stance. Lee was close now. Less than a second later, Neji spun, forcing the ckara from his pores to form a shield. Lee hit the chakra shield and was thrown backwards. Neji stopped spinning and rushed forward as Lee struggled to rise.

"Hakke Rokujuuyonshou," Neji yelled. He focused on Lee's chakra pathways and, not for the first time, sneered at how twisted they were. He attacked. The first two strikes went to the genin's arms, striking nerves that sat next to the chakra pathway. Four went to the boys shoulders; the next sets went to Lee's torso, attacking major organs as softly as Neji could so this attack would not result in the death of his teammate.

Lee stumbled backwards when Neji finished. He had been in this position many times, beaten after Neji and he had fought, but this time it was different. Lee felt different. Something was wrong. His teammate had done something different, something new. Lee felt himself fall forward. His vision blurred.

Neji started down at his teammate. His face betrayed no emotion but worry for his teammate tore through his mind like a wildfire. Lee's eyes were unfocused as he tried to figure out what was wrong. Neji smirked and turned towards Genma who was looking down at Lee, willing him to ride and defeat the stuck up Hyuuga.

Lee shook as he tried to rise. Pain radiated through his body for a moment before his vision went black, his arms collapsed, and he fell to the ground.

Neji did not turn to check him, but his hands tensed wanting to curl into fists.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji!" Genma said, his eyes still on the fallen genin.

Medics rushed onto the field and loaded Lee up onto a stretcher. The stadium was silent as a doctor checked Lee's vitals. A glare was sent towards Neji as the man talked quickly to the others, then they were gone, rushing of the field with glowing hands. Neji turned towards the stairs that lead up to the contestants viewing box, not once looking at his fallen teammate being carried off the field.

He'll be okay, Neji thought silently, willing himself not to look. I held back so I didn't seriously harm him, Neji assured himself.

XxXxXxX

Naruto watched as Lee was carried off the field as he clenched his hands. You did well, he thought as his eyes moved to Neji. The Hyuuga's face was blank, not even a hint of worry was present and this angered Naruto. How could someone care so little for his teammate? It was wrong, immoral, disgust- Naruto's thought came to a halt when Neji's hands curled into fists and his eyes hardened. Neji stopped in the doorway and Naruto could see that he was fighting against turning back to look at Lee. Sighing, Naruto turned his back as well. Even as hardened as he was, Neji showed something that Sasuke never: compassion. Sasuke would never show love or worry for his teammates and that saddened Naruto. Sasuke was hardened by the death of his family and he would never let someone get close to him. Maybe, hopefully, that would change in the future. Naruto prayed that it would.

The blond looked over at Hinata. She was talking softly with Sakura about the fight that had just occurred. Nearby, Gaara leaned on a wall with his arms crossed. His eyes were focused on Sakura. He looked like he was afraid she would vanish if he shifted his focus. That confused Naruto. Why would Gaara look like that? Was he worried about their fight? Or was he remembering the incident with Sasuke that had happened a month ago?

Naruto sighed as his mind trailed back to Sasuke. The Uchiha was power hungry, ready to do anything to kill his brother. He would not ask for help from his peers, that much Naruto knew. Sasuke was too arrogant for that. He would rely on his elders for information and power. And when those resources were depleted… Naruto shivered. Sasuke would go after people outside the village. People like Orochimaru who had gone to great lengths to obtain grotesque power. Orochimaru that was another problem. Kabuto's information had been disturbing, especially the revelations about the snakes techniques and his "immortality".

"We will take a five minute break before the next fight," Genma said, interrupting Naruto's thoughts.

Spectators in the stands groaned. So far, the fights had been good and they were ready for more. The Kazekage's son would fight as would the Hyuuga heiress and that, the crowd was looking forward to.

XxXxXxX

Gai looked down at his unconscious student. The medics had said that he was fine, that their quick check on the field had revealed things to be worse than the truth. Gai was not so sure. Lee did not go down this easily. Gai sighed and put one hand on Lee's green-clad shoulder.

"I am so proud of you, Lee," Gai said softly. "You did well."

Before the fight, Lee had sought him out to question him on the use of the gates. HE asked if Gai would allow him to open them. Gai had been indecisive. On one side, Lee would be sure to win, but on the other, he could have seriously harmed or killed Neji with the added power that the gates gave him. In the end, Gai had told Lee he could use them if he had no other option. Gai was glad it had not come down to that, even if Lee had lost. He was not ready to lose a student.

XxXxXxX

Sasuke lay in the hospital bed glaring at the wall he had been observing for a month. It was ridiculous. He was fine. Nothing was wrong with him. Every time he had brought it up, however, the doctors and nurses told him that he was in danger from Orochimaru and from Naruto's seal. Sasuke did not believe them. He was fine and Orochimaru would not risk attacking him while he was in the village, at least, that is what he told himself.

Sasuke looked up as the door opened. Kakashi walking in and gave Sasuke a smile.

"Naruto is fighting next," Kakashi said not beating around the bush. "Do you want to watch?"

Sasuke looked at Kakashi warily. He wanted to get out of the hospital, but that did not mean that he wanted to observe his teammates battles. In fact, Sasuke did not want to deal with them now, not after the events during the preliminary rounds a month ago. Finally, Sasuke sighed, "If it'll get me out of here, yes."

Kakashi nodded and stuck in head out of the door to call a nurse. A few moments later, the young blonde who had been taking care of Sasuke during his stay came in. "Can I help you, Hatake-san?" she asked respectfully.

"I'll be taking Sasuke for a while; will you release him into my care?" Kakashi asked.

The nurse smiled at him. "Of course, Hatake-san. As his jounin sensei, you are the equivalent of a guardian. I am curious, however, as to why you did not collect him before now."

Sasuke fumed silently, Kakashi could have gotten him out of here at any point in time and he had not. Soon, all forms were signed and Sasuke was allowed to dress as he sulked. He was still glaring at Kakashi as they exited the hospital.

"I know that you are upset," Kakashi said. "But it was better that you were in the hospital protected rather than at home alone where you would have been venerable if Orochimaru or Gaara decided to attack you."

Despite Sasuke's anger, he understood Kakashi's reasoning and he stopped glaring as they made their way to the stadium.

XxXxXxX

"Five minutes have passed," Genma called out looking around the stadium. "The next battle will begin soon. Will Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata enter?"

Naruto looked back and meet Hinata's eyes. It was time.

XxXxXxX

Orochimaru smiled at the names. It was time. Haruno Sakura would be his. And with her would come the Kyuubi and Ichibi Jinjurikens and the Uchiha heir.


	17. Chapter 17

**Mark **

**Chapter 17: Plans Into Action**

"_Will Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata enter?" Genma called out. _

_Naruto looked back and met Hinata's eyes. It was time._

* * *

Naruto stood across from Hinata. Genma stood between the two. He glanced at each of them before asking if they both understood the rules.

Naruto took a deep breath before he answered with a nod. Hinata didn't hesitate with her reply.

Naruto couldn't believe that he was standing in the arena across from the Hyuuga heiress. He was actually going to fight her

Naruto drew up his resolve. His eyes hardened. He stood straighter. Hinata seemed to mimic him as her back straightened as well. Both of them radiated confidence.

Genma's eyes flickered between the two moments before he jumped back. "Begin!" he shouted.

* * *

Gaara leaned against the rail to watch the two genin fight. As soon as Genma had yelled "Begin", Naruto darted forward to attack Hinata. Seconds before he would have hit her, Hinata spun and released the chakra from her pores creating a sphere of chakra to protect her from Naruto.

Naruto had jumped back, just barely missing being thrown across the arena, and used his Kage Bushin.

Hinata stopped spinning and watched her, now, three opponents.

Gaara's attention was drawn away from the fight shortly. The two were playing with each other, using elementary moves and weapons to test one another. Gaara frowned, not at the display below, but at the absence of Sakura. His eyes flickered to the door. She had left for the bathroom just before Naruto and Hinata's fight had begun. She should have been back by now.

A cheer echoed through the stadium and Gaara looked down to see Naruto hit a wall. Hard. His two clones had been destroyed while Gaara's attention had been elsewhere.

When Naruto stood, the grin that had appeared on his face when he had created his clones was gone. He was serious now. Hinata reacted to this and prepared herself for the real battle that was about to start.

The two genin rushed towards each other. Just before the first blow was about to land, a woman's scream echoed through the air.

Everyone froze, including the two contestants on the field.

Gaara's eyes were wide and scared as he looked towards the doors that lead out of the contestants' observation box. The scream sounded like Sakura. Gaara could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He wanted to go find her, he _needed _to. But _something_ was holding him back. Something was not allowing him to leave and find his mate.

Another scream penetrated the stunned silence. This one belonged to a male.

Gaara looked up to where the Hokage sat. An ANBU member was whispering something in his ear. The Hokage's face was furious as he stood.

"The chunin exams will come to a halt now. I will ask that everyone evacuate the stadium at this time. Please stay calm," The Hokage said. "The exams will continue at a later date."

People glanced nervously at each other as they followed the Hokage's orders. What had happened that called for a halt of one of the most important viewed exams?

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other before turning to Genma for guidance.

"Go up to the observation box," he said as he chewed on his toothpick. The two genin did as they were told and went to join Gaara.

"Where's Sakura?" Naruto asked immediately when he saw Gaara still wide eyes.

"She went to the bathroom right before your fight began," Gaara said in monotone. "I kept meaning to follow, but every time I thought about it, I was drawn back to your fight… I think it was her that screamed."

The three of them exchanged worried looks before running to the door, ignoring the other genin who were in the box with them. Gaara lead the way to the bathroom.

"Do you think it was genjutsu?" Hinata asked Naruto quietly as they followed Gaara.

"Most likely," Naruto said. His eyes were cold and hard.

Twenty feet before the door to the girls bathroom, they were stopped by Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei! Is Sakura in there?" Naruto blurted out.

Kakashi looked at him, his one visible eye was sad. "Naruto, Gaara. We're going to everything we can to find out who did this. You don't have to worry."

Naruto tackled his sensei. "Kakashi-sensei! Who did it? Where's Sakura? What's going on in there?" He yelled. His hands clenched Kakashi's vest in a white-knuckled grip.

Kakashi gently pried Naruto's hands off of him and sat up. "Sakura was taken," Kakashi said calmly. "There are five other people in the bathroom that were killed, brutally."

Gaara growled. "Who took her? Where's my Sakura?"

Sand swirled dangerously around Gaara. And the sand genins eyes were bright with rage.

Kakashi glanced at the boy. "We think that it may have been Orochimaru, but we aren't sure because he hasn't been targeting her during the exams. He's been targeting Sasuke. However, Sasuke's…. obsession with Sakura hasn't been well hidden during the exams and Orochimaru may have picked up on it and it is possible that he decided to use it to draw Sasuke to him."

Gaara screamed angrily. He was going to kill the snake. He would hunt down the bastard and destroy him. Rip him to pieces.

"Gaara," Hinata's soft voice drew Gaara's attention to her.

She gasped at the unshed tears that his eyes shown with. Sand wrapped around the boy and he vanished.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto's voice was thick with emotion. "Did you find anything of Sakura's to prove that she was the one taken?"

Kakashi realized that the bond between the two jinchuuriki was strong because of their connection to Sakura. Sakura was common ground between the two of them. She was Gaara's mate and Naruto's best friend and teammate. The two had a bond through her because they wanted to protect her. Kakashi glanced at Hinata and wondered if the girl saw this as well. He also wondered if Gaara's and Naruto's bond could be strenghted through Hinata if Gaara got to know her.

Kakashi took out a familiar red headband. "This was found on the bathroom counter."

"Can I have it?" Naruto asked softly.

Kakashi didn't ask why his pupil wanted the headband. He could guess why. He handed it over.

"Be careful, Naruto," Kakashi said as Naruto began to walk off.

He knew that he was asking the impossible. Naruto would run off and do something stupid that was likely to get both he and Gaara killed. He still needed to say it.

Naruto glanced back and smiled. "You know me, sensei."

Hinata glanced up at Kakashi and he gave her a small eye-smile and put a hand on her shoulder.

Naruto continued to walk away leaving Kakashi and Hinata behind him.

* * *

It took Naruto a while to find Gaara. The sun had long since set and the civilians had retired.

Gaara was on the outskirts of Konoha, high up in one of the many trees that populated the area.

It had been difficult to find the boy since he had been masking his chakra, so Naruto had to turn to his other senses to find him, mainly smell and tracking someone who teleports with sand through smell was extremely difficult.

Naruto stood on a branch near Gaara's.

"Gaara," the blonde said softly, gaining the others attention. "We're gonna find her. Don't worry."

Naruto could see the salty water glittering on Gaara's face as it reflected in the moonlight. Gaara nodded.

"I know," he whispered.

Naruto sat on his branch and pulled out the red headband.

Gaara looked at him curiously.

Naruto smiled softly and held out the headband.

* * *

END

* * *

**Okay, last chapter for Mark. Yes, there will be a sequel, no worries, but this part needs to come to an end, and so it has.**

**Thank you all for reading, I have appreciated the support of my readers during this time. **

**I will post the first chapter of the sequel as a part of 'Mark' when I have it completed.**

**Once again, thank you for your support.**

**~Evelyn627  
**


	18. Sequel

Darkness. She was floating in darkness. She could feel nothing, hear nothing. Her eyes may have been opened, or closed, she couldn't tell. She couldn't move. Her body was cut off from her brain.

She tried to remember. Who she was. What she was. Where she was. What had happened.

Nothing. It was blank. All that came to mind was darkness. The infinite darkness.

It was suffocating. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. She couldn't fight.

A pinpoint of light appeared. She tried to reach for it. It grew. She tried to run.

* * *

**[A/N]:** The sequel is up! It's called "Descent". I hope you check it out and let me know what you think. I'm sorry for make all of you wait this long. I hope you enjoy it. :)


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